Public Law 480: Declining Prospects for the Continued Support of Area Studies.

Sanchez, James Joseph

Public Law 480, whose original intent was to sell surplus foodstuffs to famine-stricken nations, evolved into a program of obtaining foreign language materials for libraries with the large quantities of soft currencies obtained through the food sales. The acquisition effort developed ambitious goals for systematic improvement of the quality of area and language studies in American universities. Major area collections have evolved in university libraries, largely as a result of this federal support. However, libraries have at the same time become less reliant upon other means of support for development of collections. The high level of support provided by Public Law 480 is now threatened. Participating libraries will probably be forced to contribute to the full cost of materials orders, and university participation in the customary blanket orders is likely to shrink. Similarly, the number of items available through the program may decrease, and the format may be less acceptable due to a microfilming trend. These developments suggest that the future of the Public Law 480 libraries and the area studies programs they support is uncertain. (MSE)